Colchester police investigate fraudulent credit card charges

COLCHESTER — Shoppers in Colchester are watching their credit card purchases closely, after reports of large unauthorized charges showing up on the bills of local cardholders.

“The police are investigating and everyone should check their statements for fraudulent charges,” First Selectman Gregg Schuster said. “Any fraud should be reported to your credit card company and the police.”

Details of the suspicious activity were few on Monday. No businesses have been mentioned officially as sources for the activity, but it’s believed that one or two local establishments are the point of origin.

Resident Wendy Maurice manages the local Real Housewives of Colchester group on Facebook. Charges in the hundreds of dollars have showed up on some residents’ bills, according to information from Maurice. Word of the fraudulent activity spread among residents late last week. Some were alerted by their credit card companies, while others found the large charges on their monthly statements.

“This is such a great town. It will be sad if we find out that local people are the thieves,” Maurice said.

At least three people have filed police reports, according to residents who belong to the Facebook group.

Amounts stolen range from $200 to more than $1,700 and purchases have shown up at retailers, including Nordstrom, Macy’s and Lord and Taylor, mostly in other areas of the state, residents said.

How the thief or thieves are getting the numbers hasn’t been revealed. A common method is to use a “skimmer,” an electronic device that reads the data off a card’s magnetic strip when it’s used by the owner or given to a store employee. The devices are popular with thieves because they can be concealed and they work quickly. Elaborate skimmers have been made to blend into automatic teller machines and retail and gas station pump terminals, and can transmit the data they snatch over a wireless network to a nearby computer.